by Unknown
Chapter TWENTY-TWO
Dexter
I wanted to make tonight extra special for Courtney, so I booked a hotel suite for us for the evening. I went by earlier and scattered rose petals along the floor and the bed. I had some candles spread around the room that I would have a hotel employee come by and light when I send her a text letting her know that we are on our way.
Courtney wants to go visit Lillian at the hospital before we head out to dinner, so we swing by there and the girls talk in whispers so I can’t hear what they are saying, but I am pretty sure I can guess that they are talking about our plans tonight.
I can’t wait to get Courtney alone, and not just because of the sex. I just like being with her. We could go to that hotel room and go to bed for all I care. Not that I don’t want to have sex with Court. I do, and when we do I know it will be mind blowing. The chemistry we share with just a kiss will blow you out the water, so I know the sex will be life changing.
As we go to leave, Lillian tells Courtney to have a good night with an exaggerated wink. Courtney just rolls he eyes.
Lillian is definitely doing much better and was able to make it to her thirty-third week in pregnancy. They will be doing her C-section on Monday. I know she is excited and scared. Everything will be okay though. I have assured Courtney of this numerous times. She worries about her sister constantly.
I made reservations for an Italian restaurant in town. I wanted this to be a little like our first date. When Courtney sees where we are she knows exactly what I was trying to do. She is absolutely radiant tonight. She has on a black fitted dress that stops about mid-thigh and her hair is down with her curls falling down around her face. She isn’t wearing much make up, which I love. She doesn’t need it to look beautiful. Her true beauty shines through enough for her.
“Someone trying to recreate our first date?” she asks.
“I wanted everything about tonight to be special Courtney. You deserve the world and if I could give it to you, I would.”
We get seated out on the patio and we are the only ones out here as I requested when I called and made the reservation. I even had them add twinkling white lights to the beams so it looked just like the place in Alabama. I have never been here before but I hope the food is just as good as the place back home.
“This must have cost you a fortune, Dexter.” Courtney looks at me with her eyes as wide as saucers.
“I know for a fact that these lights aren’t always out here, and this is usually the busiest section of the restaurant this time of year.” She is waving her hands frantically around trying to send the point home.
“You are worth every penny baby. I love you so much.” I tell her.
“So Dexter, what do you recommend?” Ahh, two could play at this game.
“Well, I highly recommend the lasagna. I suggest you try that, and if you love it as much as I think you will I promise to take you back to the hotel and have my wicked way with you.” I am smiling ear to ear. I have never been so happy in my life.
We both order the lasagna and it is to die for, maybe even better than back in Alabama. I know Courtney agrees when she takes her first bite and moans out loud when the flavors hit her tongue.
“Guess this means I get to take you back to the hotel and have my way with you then.” I say.
“Yeah, Yeah buddy. Hate to burst your bubble, but I was a sure thing anyway. Lasagna or not.”
We finish up our dinner, and before we leave the restaurant I text the employee at the hotel who is supposed to light all the candles for me.
I take my time making our way to the hotel until I get a text back saying that everything is good to go.
When we get closer to our hotel room I make Courtney close her eyes so I can get into the room before her to see her expression. I am on cloud nine. Tonight is going to be epic. I can’t wait to get my hands on her. To worship her body and show her how much I love her.
I open the door and lead her inside with her eyes still closed. I walk over the bed and turn around to face her.
“Open your eyes pretty girl.” I say to her and she does. Only I was expecting her to gasp in excitement and surprise, what I get instead scares the shit out of me.
She gasps in horror and places a trembling hand over her mouth like she has seen a ghost and she goes pale. Her eyes are wide and her body begins to shake and I know something is seriously wrong.
“Oh my God, Dexter. I am so sorry, I can’t do this. I thought I was ready but I am just not, I am not ready.”
“It’s okay Courtney. We don’t have to do anything. We can leave now if that is what you want and we can head home, back to your house if that will make you feel more comfortable. I am just happy to spend time with you baby.” I start to go to her. I just want to hold her and help her through wherever her mind is at right now.
“Dexter, I can’t believe I am saying this but I…. I need some time to process all of this. This is truly romantic and I really appreciate the gesture I will explain everything, just not right now. Just give me some time please. Don’t follow me okay just give me some time.” She holds her hands up giving me the signal to stay put.
She takes off down the hall before I have a chance to say another word. Does she really think I am going to let her leave here when she is so upset? Not a chance in hell. I take off down the hall and get to the elevator just as the doors are closing shut. I hit the button hoping the doors will open again but no such luck. I wait for what feels like an eternity before the doors open again. When I make it to the lobby, she is nowhere in sight. I see a cab pulling away from the curb and I know it’s carrying the love of my life away with it.
What the hell happened back there?
I am confused as hell, but I am determined to find my girl. I can’t let her get away that easily. I catch the next cab and head to her house first but she isn’t there. Then I call her parents to see if she has shown up there and she hasn’t.
I text Lillian to see if maybe she went to hospital to see her, but she isn’t with Lillian either.
I think hard to myself and try to figure out where she would have gone. Come on baby girl.
Where are you?
Chapter TWENTY-THREE
Courtney
I reach the elevator pressing the down button over and over until the doors open. Once I’m inside I punch the close doors button just the same. I can’t let Dex see me like this. So broken. I know I should never have run out on Dexter like that, but seeing him there with all the candles and rose petals did me in. I know he wasn’t planning a marriage proposal, he was just trying to make our first time together romantic. He couldn’t have known that was the exact hotel where Dave proposed to me all those years ago. He couldn’t have known that he had set up the room almost the exact way that Dave had proposed to me. That night had meant so much to me. Just walking in that room and seeing all the romantic gestures brought it all back and I didn’t see Dex standing there. It was Dave that I saw, with his brilliant smile down on one knee promising me a future together. It was one of the happiest days of my life and I couldn’t control my instincts. The second Dexter came into view from my hazy vision and I realized it was not actually Dave there I bolted. I couldn’t take the heart ache. I feel terrible leaving Dex like that but I couldn’t bear it to stay in that room a second longer.
Once I reach the lobby I head outside to hail a taxi. I get lucky and there is one waiting outside. I jump in and just yell for the man to go. I feel like I can finally breathe again. I have ruined what promised to be a terrific night because of my own past. It has been almost three years. I am ready to move on with Dexter. I am going to have some serious explaining to do to him once I have cleared my head some. I tell the cab driver to head in the direction of the only thing I knew would help me clear my mind and make sense of all of this.
Once we reached the marina I headed right for our boat. The Little Lady Bug as Dave had named her. I planned on going over to Shack for a little while to clear my h
ead and do some soul searching. I notice I am wearing my dress still and head into the cabin for a change of clothes that I always keep down there. The second I got back I would be calling Dexter to explain. He was such a great guy I knew he would understand and he would probably feel terrible for bringing up the past, but I wouldn’t let him feel that way. He was just trying to make the night perfect for me.
I checked over everything on the boat and once she was untied I headed off to Shack. I couldn’t get there fast enough. Once the island came into sight I noticed someone had been building a huge house off to the center of it and it sent a pang of longing and sadness through me.
That was supposed to be Dave and me. It seems the gods are against me tonight and anything to bring me down was going to. The house was spectacular. I envied whoever got to live here, in my happy place.
I reached the shore and anchored down. It was a warm spring night, so I tucked my cell phone into my water tight lanyard around my neck and grabbed my shelling bag for any treasures I might find that have washed ashore, and jumped in and swam for the shore line.
Once I was on land I started walking the shore where the waves break picking up shells and sand dollars along the way. This is just what I needed. I have not been here in so long it’s like a breath of fresh air. I probably shouldn’t have come out here without telling someone where I was going, but I like the feel of having no worries for once. No one knew where I was so there was no one to bother me, and the island seemed to be deserted leaving the beach filled with shells and treasures just for me to find.
About three miles down the long stretch of the beach and my shell bag was full. Deciding now would be a good time to turn around I slung my bag over my shoulder and started to head back to The Little Lady Bug, back to Dex. Halfway back to the boat I grew a little tired from the shell bag being so full and heavy and I decided I needed to take a break. I sat down in the sand and decided to rummage through my shell bag and see if I had anything I could leave for someone else to find, that way my bag would be a little lighter for the rest of the walk.
Of course, I just couldn’t part with anything in there, so before I closed up my bag I took out my water bottle from inside and decided drinking some water to hydrate myself would probably be a good idea. For me and for my bag. I wouldn’t dehydrate and the bag would be lighter as well. I lay back in the sand enjoying the sound of the waves crashing along the shore.
I pulled out my cell phone and saw that I had numerous texts and calls from Dexter and Lillian. I sent a quick text to both of them saying that I was fine I just needed to clear my head, and then clicked on my iPod app and listened to the music as I drifted off to sleep.
I woke up some time later and could hear the fury of the waves crashing on shore. I knew I needed to get back to the boat and head back before the churning of the ocean could get any worse. I didn’t hear of any storms that were coming through today but then again I haven’t really been up to date on checking the weather or anything like that lately with everything going on. You would think I learned my lesson after the last storm. Apparently I had not. I grabbed my phone to check and see what I was dealing with weather wise and noticed that it was dead from leaving the music playing during my nap. Wow I really didn’t think this through before heading out here tonight.
I reached the boat and realized just how rough the water had become and instead of heading for the boat I headed for the house I had seen while driving the boat over earlier. It was only about a mile away if I was judging the distance correctly. I hiked through the sand until I reached the door of the enormously beautiful home. I knocked, waiting to see if anyone answered I was going to at least see if they had a phone so I could get in touch with Lillian to let her know where I was so she wouldn’t worry. I am sure Dexter had filled her in by now. After that I was going to head back to the boat and wait out the storm.
No one answered the door so I knocked again. When no one answered with the second knock I gave up. Admitting defeat, I turned and made the journey back to the boat. The water seemed to have calmed down some so I decided I was going to make a break for it. It was only a fifteen minute ride back to the mainland. I waded into the water until it was deep enough for me to swim and headed back to the boat. I went to grab my phone to plug it up to charge and realized I left it on land along with my shell bag. I didn’t have much time so I made the split decision to leave my precious shells and my phone behind. I think it was harder leaving the shells, I could always get a new phone when I got back home.
I cranked up The Little Lady Bug and headed back to main land. I was being as careful as I could going slowly but quick enough to get back as fast as possible. I was being so careful paying too much attention to where I was going and looking straight ahead that I wasn’t paying attention to the depth finder at all. I wasn’t going that fast, but I realized it a second too late that I was headed straight for a sand bar. I tried to slow down but I wasn’t fast enough. I hit the sand bar and the impact threw me from the boat and I landed on a piece of drift wood that was lodged deep into the sand, the wind was knocked out of me and I could feel intense pain in my back and neck. At least I was still alert that had to be a good sign.
This was not good at all. No one knew where I was and no one would be out in this weather. The pain was getting worse by the second and I was trying to stay strong. I had to make it through this. I had no choice. My kids would not lose another parent. I tried to roll over onto my stomach. I made it that far good. I was able to get up on my hands and knees when a hot searing pain tore through my back and up my spine to the back of my head. It brought tears to my eyes. I was getting light headed and felt very faint. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before I would lose consciousness. I tried hard to stay awake I could see the tide getting closer with each passing wave. I couldn’t hold out any longer. I gave into the pain and collapsed into the sand.
I was in and out of consciousness for what felt like hours but was probably only several minutes. I thought I heard my name being called, but knew I must be really losing it now. The voice sounded like Dave. I was either dreaming or dead. I didn’t want to die. I couldn’t leave my kids as orphans. I tried to wake up and clear my vision. I heard the voice again.
“I am coming for you Courtney, stay right where you are.” As if I could move anywhere anyway. I rolled my eyes. Am I awake or what? This is the strangest feeling. I was sure that was Dave’s voice again.
Just then I felt my weight shift as I was lifted off the sand. I cried out in pain but before I could alert my rescuer that they probably shouldn’t move me, I was already being pick up by two muscular arms. I was being carried towards a boat off in the distance. It was not my boat but I was just thankful that I was being rescued.
“My kids can’t be orphans, please help me.” I said to my rescuer.
He looked down at me and smiled. That smile was familiar somehow and those eyes. Those were Dave’s eyes, and that was Dave’s smile, but that couldn’t be right this guy had extremely long blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail and a beard that went on for days. I set the thought aside. Obviously I am in some kind of half-awake half unconscious dream because I know there is no way the man now laying me across the bench seat of his boat could be Dave. I was making up some kind of fantasy rescue attempt in my mind after everything that had occurred tonight.
“Where are you hurting Courtney? Please tell me what I can do for you to make you more comfortable for the rest of the way back to land.” Mysterious guy says to me. Wait how does he know my name?
“Back hurts. Head Hurts. Please just help me get me back to the main land. I need to get back to my kids.” I cried out in pain. All I could think about was the kids. If something happened to me it would devastate them. It had taken them this long just to get over Dave dying. I knew they weren’t even completely over that yet and probably never would be completely.
“Okay, sit tight. I will get us back as quick as I can. I can’t believe you took the boat out i
n that kind of weather, didn’t I teach you better than that? I promise Courtney, I won’t let anything happen to you. I will get you to the hospital as soon as I can baby. Just relax. Nothing bad is going to happen. Just hang in there darlin, don’t fall back to sleep. Our kids need you baby stay with me. Don’t close your eyes, Courtney come on.” Apparently I was awake why else would this guy be telling me to stay awake? He keeps talking, saying the same things over and over trying to keep me alert and awake.
It was then in that moment I knew that this was actually Dave. My Dave. It sounded like him and it looked like him minus the long hair and beard. He said, “Our kids” need me. He also said, “Didn’t I teach you better than that?” Dave was the only one to teach me anything about boating safety. This couldn’t be a good sign. Dave died almost three years ago.
If this was Dave then that only left two questions?
Was I dead or dying?
Or was Dave actually alive?
Look for Book two In the Love Shattered Series
His Love Shattered
Coming June 2015
About the Author
Cat Brown lives in Virginia with her husband and their four children. She is a stay at home mom and was inspired to write after a story came to her in her dreams. It was stuck in her head for the longest time before she was able to actually put it down on paper. Cat hopes you enjoy the characters journey as much as she has while writing about them.
Check her out on facebook Cat Brown and goodreads and look for future books to this series as well as a spin off Novella about Lillian and Rob’s story.
‘
